Nor'easter
by Ash M. Knight
Summary: An angsty, fluffy, wintery SwanQueen one-shot. Emma and Regina are roommates who are constantly on each other's nerves. Then, during a particularly brutal snow storm, things take a surprising turn. Inspired by a Tumblr prompt.


Emma Swan and Regina Mills did not get along. Everyone knew that, including their roommates. That being the case, when the four were in the living room, none were surprised by the shouting match that had started between them. The end of the exchange, however, was different than usual. At least, it was to those watching.

After several angry verbal exchanges, face red and flustered, Regina finally screamed, "¡Te amo!"

Equally as flustered, Emma shouted back, "Well, I 'te amo' you too!" before stomping loudly out of the living room and into the kitchen where she could be alone.

The two roommates watched as Regina burst into tears and left the house, slamming the front door behind her.

Ruby stretched her legs out on the loveseat and pushed another potato chip into her mouth, mumbling through the food, "Hate when they speak Spanish. Feels like I'm missing all the good stuff."

"Ruby…" Belle sighed, looking slightly frazzled by the interaction, which was definitely a first. "I don't think Emma does speak Spanish."

"Huh?" Ruby asked flatly, shoveling more chips in as she continued to chew her first bite.

"You're hopeless, you know that?" Belle huffed, rolling her eyes as she rose from her seat in the recliner and following Emma into the kitchen.

"Em?" Belle said softly, reaching out to touch her friend's tense shoulder.

Emma's hands were gripping the back of the chair at the table, and her knuckles were turning white form the force.

For a while, the blonde didn't say anything as she continued to clench the wood in her fists, but when Belle said her name a second time, maintaining a gentle tone, Emma snapped, "What?"

"Are you okay?"

"No! She's fucking infuriating! She knows I don't speak Spanish! She only does that to piss me off even more! How can she just—"

"I thought you two hated each other."

"What do you mean? Of course she hates me! She's _insufferable_!"

"Emma… Do you know what 'te amo' means?"

Blinking, face blank of expression, Emma replied, "It means 'I hate you,' right?"

Letting out a heavy sigh, Belle reached up to rub her temples and told her friend, "Emma… 'te odio' means 'I hate you.'"

"Well, then what the fuck does 'te amo' mean?!" Emma growled. "You guys are always throwing your fucking smarts in my face!"

"Enough!" Belle snapped back. "Don't take this out on me. I'm not the one who can't figure out when someone's trying to say 'I love you.'"

Staring in disbelief, Emma stammered, "T-Trying to s-say w-what?"

"'Te amo' means 'I love you,' Em. Did you think she was crying because she was angry?"

"_Yes!"_ Emma gasped, exasperated. "Of course I thought she was angry! She was yelling at me and—Oh, _fuck. _I have to go."

Without bothering to finish the conversation with Belle, and without bothering to grab her coat, hat, or gloves, Emma ran out the front door into the cold winter air. In the dim illumination of the porch light, it looked like Emma was stepping into a snow globe. The blizzard raged on, despite the fact that it had been forgotten by the arguing women.

"Oh, shit. Oh, shit… Regina…" Emma whispered to herself, her head whipping back and forth in an effort to try to see through some of the storm.

After taking a few steps forward into the deep sea of snow covering the driveway and realizing how futile her efforts of relying on sight were, Emma finally called out, "Regina!"

Only the whistling of the winter wind replied.

"Regina, come on! Come back inside!" More silence. "Regina?"

After a few more minutes, realizing she would soon experience frost bite if she didn't get in the house, Emma turned and stumbled through the snow, back inside.

"Guys, I need help!" Emma called out.

Given that Emma was a strong, independent woman who refused to ask for help – even when she needed it – both her friends came without hesitation.

"What's going on, Em?" Ruby asked, brow furrowing.

"Where's Regina?" Belle added, looking concerned.

"I don't _know!_" Emma cried. "Last I knew, she went outside, but it's a fucking Nor'easter out there. I can't see a foot in front of my face!"

"Come on," Ruby said firmly, shoving Emma's jacket into her hands. "Let's go find her."

Emma wasted no time turning towards the door, but Belle grabbed her wrist and held it still, pushing her mittens into her palms.

"Put them on," Belle ordered her. "You're gonna get frost bite."

"Let's GO!" Emma shouted, pulling away and dropping the mittens.

"Emma! Be reasonable!"

But the blonde was moving towards the door anyway. Luckily, Ruby stopped her next, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood in the way and waited for Emma to comply.

Finally, when all three were appropriately dressed, they left the house and braved the storm.

"Let's spread out. Everybody got a torch?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," Ruby confirmed.

"Me too," Belle agreed.

After a few minutes of seeing only white, Ruby had managed to dig her way to Regina's car after seeing some quickly fading footsteps in the snow heading that way.

After clearing off the window on the passenger's side, Ruby called out, "GUYS! Help me get the door open!"

It took Emma and Belle several moments to come to Ruby's aid, and both stumbled in the deep snow several times before being able to reach her. Together, they used their fists to beat the sheet of ice sealing the door closed into chunks that they could brush off – with great effort – and finally, the door came open.

"Get her inside, now!" Emma shouted, using all of her strength to drag a barely conscious Regina across the front seat of the car to the passenger door.

After a struggle, the three managed to carry Regina back into the house, but not without each of the conscious women taking at least one fall on the way. By the time they reached the top of the front steps, they were covered in heavy, wet snow.

Emma was the one to settle Regina on the couch in front of the fireplace, and the other two women took a careful step backwards, waiting for their next order from their friend.

"Regina," Emma said firmly, trying to shake Regina's shivering shoulders, which were cold to the touch. "Can you hear me?"

"Emma… I think she's—"

"She's barely breathing," Emma gasped, feeling Regina's weak pulse.

Regina's chest was hardly rising as it took in slow, shallow breaths.

Without hesitation, Belle chimed in, "We have to get her clothes off."

"We what?" Emma asked dumbly, turning to look at her friend.

"She's unconscious. She's freezing. She's likely got hypothermia, Emma. We need to get her out of these wet, cold clothes and get her a warm compress."

"Oh, shit. Oh, _shit,_" Emma breathed, her own pulse rising as her heart raced. "Do it then!"

"Move over, you coward," Ruby told her, trying to lighten the mood.

Of course, it didn't work, so she remained quiet as Emma turned away out of respect for Regina and allowed her friends – who were far closer with Regina – to undress Regina and redress her in warm, dry clothes.

After a few minutes lying wrapped up in dryer-warmed blankets, Regina finally began to stir.

"Em-ma, d-don't… I d-didn—" she slurred, eyes fluttering open.

Emma was at her side, kneeling next to her, in a moment. Not quite daring to touch her, Emma just bit her lip and listened.

"Em-ma," Regina repeated, the sound of her words still strongly slurred.

"Regina… Don't… Don't talk. Just… Relax and stay warm, okay?" Emma managed to say. Then, turning to the other women, Emma asked, "Can we get her the heating pad?"

"No, Em. I'm sorry, but you can't apply direct heat when hypothermia sets in. We should get her to the hospital so they can—"

"How the hell are we going to get her there? We're in fucking Storybrooke, guys! It's not like an ambulance will make it out here in the storm of the century!" Emma shouted, rising to her feet.

"Alright. Em. Breathe," Ruby said softly, putting a hand on Emma's shoulder.

"Don't tell me to fucking breathe! She's hurt!"

"Emma," Belle said firmly. "Sit down."

"Don't—"

"Sit down!" Belle snapped. "None of us are going anywhere. No one's coming to get us until the roads are cleared, which won't be til morning. So stop freaking out and just tell her you love her already!"

No one had ever heard Belle yell before, so both Ruby and Emma were starting at her with shock.

"What are you—" Emma tried to say.

"Yeah, Em," Ruby agreed with Belle, cutting her friend off when she spoke. "We're all tired of hearing you guys yell. I mean, I know everyone hates roommates that fuck noisily in the next room but honestly I think Belle and I will take that over the daily screaming matches any day at this point."

"But—" Emma tried to protest.

The slurred sound of a confused Regina trying to make words distracted Emma from the dispute.

"I'm sorry," Emma said, locking eyes with Regina again and falling to her knees. "I'm so sorry, Regina. This is all my fault. If I'd known that you… that… And if you'd just stop speaking in fucking Spanish, it wouldn't be so hard for me to communicate with you! You run from everything! You—"

"Emma," Belle warned, putting her hand on the woman's shoulder. "She probably isn't going to remember this later. So please… be nice, would you? At least until we can get her crazy, stubborn ass some help."

"This is all my fault," Emma suddenly sobbed, covering her face with her hands.

"She's the one who decided it was a great plan to go sit in her car in a blizzard," Ruby pointed out, earning a jab in the side from Belle.

"Everyone, just shut up, okay? Ruby, go get her something warm to drink."

"I'm f-fine," Regina managed to mumble, slowly forcing herself to sit up.

This, of course, startled Emma and caused her to fall back on her heels.

"Regina… Rest… You're…"

"'M fine. W-What are y—"

"Belle," Emma stated, tugging on the woman's sleeve until she knelt down next to her.

After hearing what Emma whispered to her, Belle whispered something back that neither Ruby or Regina could hear.

When Emma turned back to Regina and stammered, "Y-Yo t-también t-te amo," Regina's eyes went slightly wide.

It was clear to all involved that Regina appeared to be slowly regaining consciousness, to the point that she knew was Emma had said.

Still, out of disbelief, Regina slightly slurred, "W-What?"

With an anxious look over her shoulder towards Belle, Emma gathered her courage, looked back to Regina and forced herself to calmly say, "Yo también te amo, Regina."

With weak arms, Regina reached for Emma's hand, but found herself falling back against the couch cushions from lack of energy. Emma accommodated for this immediately, upon realizing what Regina was trying to do, and shyly took the woman's hand in her own.

"I'm here. And I'm sorry."

"Te amo, Emma," Regina whispered. "Te amo."


End file.
